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#IMWAYR August 15, 2016

Oh Monday, I'm so glad you are here. There has
been blog writing and soon there will be blog reading! Hurrah for Jen at Teach Mentor Texts and Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers who host this weekly
event. If you are interested in learning more about kidlit, then this is your
ticket to ride!

I have not been reading enough text. I've been house cleaning. I've been
dealing with the boxes of peaches we brought home from the Okanagan. Numerous jars of peaches
have been canned. I made peach salsa for the first time - both fresh and
canned. Fresh is best, but what are you going to do in February if you don't
can some?

The garden looks like a jungle has erupted while my back was turned. I'm not looking forward to scrabbling in the dirt amidst the roses next week. It's too hot to wear armor.

I have been trying to get my netgalley account under control. For some reason I had books on my list that I read and reviewed but didn't leave feedback for.
This meant I had to find all those draft reviews here on this blog, clean them
up, and publish them. So while I got a lot of blog posts complete, my reading
life doesn't quite compare.

It is just pure happenstance that three of the books I read this week feature Qin Leng as illustrator. She is a remarkably gifted artist. Go check out her work. I'll wait.

This book is delightfully charming. It is an imaginary vignette from the life of Alice B Toklas and Gertrude Stein. Alice wakes up on her birthday expecting a surprise, but it appears that Gertrude has forgotten. When she heads off for a walk through the streets of Paris, Gertrude gets to work to surprise Alice by cooking her favourite foods and writing her a special poem. Unfortunately, as the food is cooking, Gertrude gets lost in her poetry writing and the meal ends in a disaster.

Qin Leng's beautiful watercolour illustrations capture the essence of Paris and the characters of the two women.

I only wish that their relationship was more fully acknowledged. Kulling refers to them as friends. Even in the endnotes wherein she says they lived together in Paris for forty years, provide no additional information. I don't understand this and question why she didn't refer to them as spouses or even partners.

Dear Baobab by Cheryl Foggo & Qin Leng (illustrator)

4 stars

Maiko has had to leave his home somewhere in
Africa to come and live with his Aunt and Uncle in what looks to be North
America somewhere. (I assume Canada since both the author and illustrator live
here)

He has a lot of challenges: grieving for his dead parents, going to a new
school and dealing with bullying, loss of his community and especially the
baobab tree at its heart. When he discovers the young spruce by his new house
is the same age as him, he connects to it and confides his troubles to it.
When the tree must be cut down because of its proximity to the house, Maiko
does what he can to save it. When this doesn't work, he tries to run away.
I like that Maiko's aunt and uncle are kind and loving and ready to listen and
act on Maiko's concerns once he articulates them.
Qin Leng's digitally coloured illustrations articulate the difference between
where Maiko lived in Africa, and where he is now. I love how she captures
emotions in the characters' faces and body language.

The problem with this book is that there is a lot of text on the pages. This
will dissuade many younger readers. However, because the book portrays the
experience of a young immigrant to our country, it is an important title to
share with readers of all ages. It would make a good read aloud as part of a
family or immigration unit.

A portion of the proceeds from this book go to a foundation that supports
children like Maiko around the world.

Magic Words: From the Ancient Oral Tradition of the Inuit by Edward Field
(Translator), Mike Blanc (Illustrations)

1 star

I got this from Netgalley. I was taken by the illustrations. Honest, they are
spectacular.
It's just that I have so many reservations about this book now that I have read
it.
First, It is both written, translated and illustrated by white men.
I have to wonder why there was no Inuit input. Why not an Inuit illustrator? What this seems to be is essentially cultural appropriation.
I wouldn't purchase it for my library.

NOVELS

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

3 stars

Emily Jenkins did a fine job narrating this book. There are some interesting
things going on in this story, but it is also flawed. Had it not been an
audiobook, I would have turned to the last few pages to see if it was going to
be worth it. The books begins with a young girl being bullied by a new student at the town
school.
I am not a fan of bullying books, so that was its first strike against it. As I
got into it, I was sorry to see no real character development of Betty, the
mean girl. There was not even a hint as to how she had become this person. On
top of this, I'm just not sure I could get readers at our school really
interested I this kind of book. It's historical, which isn't a problem, but I'm
not sure they would be able to connect to these characters and experiences.

I adore Piper Green. I wish I could have had a daughter just like her.
Hopefully one of my sons will some day reproduce and have a daughter with her
character. If they have a girl, I will advocate for calling her Piper. Perhaps I will advocate for Piper no matter the gender!
In this tale, what starts out as a good day, soon goes bad when Piper's tooth
comes out in her cinnamon bun on her way to school. When she gets there she discovers the class rabbit is missing. This is because a new girl, Camilla, is starting on the next day and is allergic to bunnies. Piper ends up doing something nasty to Camilla. Thankfully there are responsible adults around
to help Piper repair the damage and do the right thing.

CURRENTLY

I put aside For Today I Am A Boy, since I can only deal with one bullying book
at a time. I'm nearing the end of One Native Life, but still savouring it and reading it in small chunks. I checked my Netgalley account and discovered I had
Still A Work in Progress by Jo Knowles available so I'm almost finished that. I'm
listening to The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard. I'm having a hard time with it,
probably because I'm not a huge fan of fantasy to start with, I'm not into these star crossed lover themes, and I can already anticipate where the story is going.

UP NEXT

Since I am finished canning peaches, I hope to have more time for actual
reading next week. I’ve got quite the pile waiting. I need to get back to reading from my #MustReadin2016 list. I know that Carrie Gelson is going to put out a call for an update soon. Luckily I am still ahead of schedule there!

I love Qin Leng's work and both the PBs you share are new to me. Adding to the list! The next Piper Green book publishes tomorrow and I'm so excited. I really adore this series. I finally read the first book from my #MustRead list just two weeks ago and I'm determined to make more progress than that. I really need to get reading! I have been wasting so much time online.... at least you have glorious cans of peaches to show for the time you aren't spending reading!

Oh I love the illustrations in the Piper Green series! I love that series. Haven't found the right reader for those books yet, but I will.I am so far behind on my #mustread list. Trying to read too many Newbery potential books. Hoping that will slow down once we get our Mock Newbery lists ready.

Hmm...I agree, Magic Words is pretty disappointing - we absolutely need more Inuit content in our libraries, and those illustrations look lovely, but why why why perpetuate the appropriation of Inuit culture, when it would have been so easy to collaborate with an Inuit artist/writer/storyteller/Elder? Such a shame.

I liked Wolf Hollow but I get your want to have Betty's character developed more. I think this is not a book kids would pick up on their own but would be a good read aloud or book group book due to the discussion that could be developed about the history and the characters actions.

I have not heard about One Native Life - looked it up and am now very interested in checking it out. Thanks for your thoughts!

The anti german sentiment in the book resonated for me because my ethnically German father, born and raised in Canada, was a child at the time. He told me that when his best friend's brother was killed in the war, he came to school and beat Dad up. The bizarre thing is that both of the boys had older brothers were fighting in that war against the Nazis.

For not reading enough text, you sure read a lot! I want to read Wolf Hollow because I'd love to partake in the conversations :) I feel you on the Netgalley account! When I first got accepted, I went a bit crazy, and I have been trying to clean it up ever since.

You might love it Ricki. I just hate bullying books in general but especially when there is no character development of the bully. People don't become 'bad' for no reason, the world isn't so cut and dried, and I don't want younger readers to get it is from what they read.

I searched our online database whether we have Happy Birthday Alice Babette - we don't have it yet here in Singapore, unfortunately. :( I borrowed Wolf Hollow before leaving Singapore but had to return it when I went traveling. Will have to find it again now that I'm home.

I would love some of you squash. Our eggplants and zucchini have neen a bust this year, I'm having a hard time with a the Red Queen. Fantasy isn't really my Schlick anyway and the romance doesn't work for me.

Love your review of Piper Green. I've been wanting to read Wolf Hollow because it's gotten so may glowing reviews but everytime someone buys a copy at the store, I'm glad because that means I don't have to actually read more. I already have a pretty extensive TBR list!

About Me

Across my teaching career I have taught combinations of mixed age groupings from kindergarten to grade 5. I was an ESL teacher for a number of years and am now a teacher librarian at Charles Dickens Elementary School in Vancouver, B.C.